THE CONVERSATION

UPDATE: The cold war-era Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty expired today, August 2, 2019.

Ramesh Thakur, Professor of International Relations at Australian National University, is the co-convenor of the APLN. To view the original, please click here.

“On October 20 2018, US President Donald Trump announced he intends to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) – an arms control treaty with Russia that contributed to the end of the Cold War. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed this decision last week, while Trump reiterated his commitment to withdrawing from the treaty in his State of the Union address yesterday. Russia followed suit and reports say it is aiming to create new land-based missiles within the next two years. Reports also say the US is allocating funds for the research and development of such missiles. So, what is the INF Treaty? And will its collapse lead to an increase of global nuclear tensions that marked the Cold War?”

Image: SERGEI CHIRIKOV/AAP.